


Who Knew

by shelbsofawesome



Category: One Piece
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 07:21:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26848084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shelbsofawesome/pseuds/shelbsofawesome
Summary: OP Creative Fest prompt: Marco/Ace – Marco is immortal. Ace isn't.Short drabble of Marco working through the stages of grief after the death of Ace.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 1
Kudos: 25





	Who Knew

Ace loved Marco. He told him any chance he got. In the hallways of the Moby Dick, at taverns on islands they were docked at, even as he boarded Striker to pursue Teach. Marco was always hesitant to return the sentiment. He was older, much older as his family gently teased him about. Plus, Marco had been a pirate longer than Ace had even been alive. Marco was sure Ace didn’t really know yet what he wanted or even needed out of life. But it doesn’t stop him from spurning the younger pirate’s advances. Marco just makes sure Ace knows it isn’t anything serious. Ace’s grin in the dark hints that maybe he doesn’t entirely believe Marco’s words.

Many people have left Marco’s life. One of the downsides of being a literal Phoenix. He was used to loss. Or at least thought he was. He knew the stages of grief, a well practiced schedule at this point. Denial was the shortest. He was a medical professional and all. He knew when a body was no longer the person. Anger could last depending on the circumstances. But Marco had seen what holding onto anger could do to a person, clouding their judgment, causing unnecessary pain later. Marco preferred to keep his emotions under control.

Bargaining was always next, another stage Marco tended to bypass if possible. He didn’t believe in a higher power or cosmic deity that would care about the offerings of its worldly inhabitants. The next stage he could get stuck in if he wasn’t careful. While Marco never saw himself as innately depressed, he had his moments. It came with the whole ‘immortal’ territory. Knowing there will eventually come a time when everyone he knew and loved would be gone, Marco learned to shut off emotions as a way of existing.

However, that was much easier said than done. Through the years and long conversations, Pops had helped him realize that each moment was precious. That even if he was destined to live on, he could hold onto to the memories and experiences. Until Marineford, he lived in a constant state of acceptance. Knowing life would happen, he would take what it held and enjoy what he had.

At Marineford, it happened so quickly and yet, the world stopped twice. Fueled by the crushing knowledge that he was the one in command now of the Whitebeard Pirates, Marco had to lead. He smashed down every feeling, every raw nerve, every iota of mental and physical pain to ensure the rest of his family lived. Even after Shanks put an end to the war and guaranteed safe passage, Marco still doesn’t stop. He can’t stop. There is too much to coordinate, to plan, to do. Not only has his world broken, but the entire world has been thrown into chaos by their deaths.

Marco sits with the bodies. He can’t bring himself to leave them. To leave Ace alone again. To leave that smile. To leave the warmth of his touch. He once heard one of Ace’s former crewmates refer to him as “the sun” and a title had never fit a man better. Marco couldn’t leave the sun knowing only darkness would welcome him.

Thatch’s death was devastating but he had Pops and Ace beside him. Ultimately he didn’t have to make the decisions, just offer guidance and comfort. All eyes weren’t on him. On what he would do. Now he wished on everything not to have those same eyes looking to him for answers and direction. To not only feel his grief but to witness the pain of his family is unbearable.

Izou tells Marco he can’t know that he would have been able to do anything. But Marco knows that is shit. If there was any time for his powers to have awakened, it would have been then. He would have saved Ace. He tells Ace so every night. Because Marco knows when he goes to sleep, Ace will visit him. And Marco can apologize and say what he could, no, would have done differently. How he would have been faster, stronger, more than he was. And Ace will just smile.

Looking back and if he’s being honest, even at the time, Marco knows he should have waited. Even though it had been a year, the Whitebeard Pirates were fleeting between the anger and depression stages and could not possibly take on Blackbeard. But they wanted retribution, they wanted blood, they wanted something. How could Marco deny his family these things, when he wanted them just as much?

It takes all of his power to not lose another brother, to not lose what he has left in this life. Only after their overwhelming defeat in the Payback War (as the news blithely calls it), is Marco able to finally obtain clarity. He scatters the remaining Whitebeard Pirates calling on them to find new paths in life. They would always come to each other’s aid but they must grieve and process on their own. Their collective grief is too strong, too raw to meet a healthy end.

Marco finds solace in working in his Pop’s hometown of Sphinx. Offering medical care and protection, Marco heals. He stays in contact with his family but he achieves ‘acceptance’ on his own. Now when he falls asleep, he rests. He’s able to meet Ace with stories from the clinic and who Luffy toppled this week. Sometimes, he allows himself to speak of a life he and Ace would have shared. The places they would go, the things they would do. Marco would tell him over and over what he couldn’t say when they were in those hallways and taverns. And Ace will just smile, open his warm arms, and hold Marco.

Ace loved Marco and Marco loved Ace.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty well-trodden ground of Marco's dealing with the death of two of his closest. Hope you enjoy (? that doesn't seem like the best word for this type of writing ha hope you have feelings reading this lol). I love MarAce as a pairing and get a lot of angst thinking of the loss of their future together :( Also got to the end and realized there is no dialogue in this...so here's a "yoi" since I didn't use it 
> 
> Inspired by the prompt and the 2006 P!nk song "Who Knew".


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